(another) FTTF question :)

[matymil]

Now that the prices went up, I just wanted to double check on this before I made the $89.99 purchase for Faster to the Fun. We have HMC on our cruise and I wanted to see if FTTF has priority for the tenders also. I googled it and checked their site and could not find anything. We will have an infant with us and are leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale. Thanks!

[cloudninecat]

Yes you will have priority tendering as well. 

 

[matymil]

Thank you. Just curious if you know how that works. Its been awhile since ive been to a tender port but I only remember seeing one giant cluster eff line. Do they board platinum/fttf earlier or something?

[RWolver672]

You will get a letter in your cabin the night before, telling you where to meet.  They will then escort you down to the water shuttles and you will board one of them.

[ShakyBeef]

Matymil, everything the PPs said is correct.  I just want to add, in case you didn't know: Priority Tendering is only for the trip to the port, not for the trip back to the ship.  To leave the island, you'll have to wait in line with everyone else.  Have a great cruise!

[bstel]

2 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

Matymil, everything the PPs said is correct.  I just want to add, in case you didn't know: Priority Tendering is only for the trip to the port, not for the trip back to the ship.  To leave the island, you'll have to wait in line with everyone else.  Have a great cruise!

makes sense.  FTTF is Faster TO the Fun, not Faster Back from the Fun (FBFTF)  😉

 

[ABQrobin]

FTTF isn't really necessary IMHO it is a waste of money.  

[Schoifmom]

27 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

FTTF isn't really necessary IMHO it is a waste of money.  

 

Good thing that the OP didn't ask your opinion on the relative value of FTTF.  It is just that ... relative.

[Sabalon]

Another thing about the priority tendering - excursions will also be priority.  So if you think you absolutely must be on the first tender out, you may be surprised.  Conversely, if you're getting it just for tender priority and plan on taking excursions in tendered ports, may not be as much of a value or need.     But if when you're ready to go as are the general masses, then you're not having to wait, which is nice.  

[moondog73]

3 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

FTTF isn't really necessary IMHO it is a waste of money.  

 

Way to add zero value to the question!!!  Not sure why people can't simply answer the question without giving opinions.

 

To the OP, definitely worth it as you get to see all the disgusted looks on the faces of people waiting in line.  More beach time to enjoy for you!!!

[grandmarnnurse]

4 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

FTTF isn't really necessary IMHO it is a waste of money.  

It is a personal preference. What is not worth it to one, is worth every penny to another. I am of the former group. I know I will try to purchase it for all of my cruises because the priority check in, boarding, and cabin available upon boarding makes it worth every penny to me. But as I said, it may not be that big a deal to someone else, and that’s their prerogative. We all have different preferences.

[ShakyBeef]

5 minutes ago, grandmarnnurse said:

It is a personal preference. What is not worth it to one, is worth every penny to another. I am of the former group. I know I will try to purchase it for all of my cruises because the priority check in, boarding, and cabin available upon boarding makes it worth every penny to me. But as I said, it may not be that big a deal to someone else, and that’s their prerogative. We all have different preferences.

I think you mean that you are part of the latter group.😉

 

[grandmarnnurse]

3 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

I think you mean that you are part of the latter group.😉

 

Oops! You are correct! Lol! 🤪

[twinmom2298]

1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

It is a personal preference. What is not worth it to one, is worth every penny to another. I am of the former group. I know I will try to purchase it for all of my cruises because the priority check in, boarding, and cabin available upon boarding makes it worth every penny to me. But as I said, it may not be that big a deal to someone else, and that’s their prerogative. We all have different preferences.

 

I'm with you.  the priority check in, ability to immediately access room and the priority tendering and having a designated place to wait to debark without having to wander the decks makes it worth every dime.  I will get it every time if I can.  

[Cruisegirl70]

We recently came back from a cruise that did not tender but still found it to be of great value for the same reasons I see that traveling with an infant would add even more value.

 

Embarkation: From the time we were dropped off for the ship until we boarded the boat took about 15 minutes. We arrived at the port around 10:50 am and were in our room relaxing on our balcony before 11:30 am.  We skipped many lines. 

 

Debarkation: We were told to be in the lounge at 7:30. Had to wait with others maybe twenty minutes for the ship to be cleared but was in an area that was comfortable and they even had some pastries and juice set out. We go the clearance at about 7:45 am and was off the ship, found our luggage (did not do self-debarkation)., cleared customs, and boarding the van to take us back to our car by 8:05 am. Those who were not FTTF or diamond/platinum zones were not set to be called until 8:30 am. 

 

I know many people who did not have FTTF have stated on the boards they had small lines and waits but if it were me I would not want to take the chance with a little one whose patience level can be tricky.  Access to a room for one to take a nap or just to put down all the stuff you have to travel with, especially with a small one is a HUGE bonus. I have enough problems dealing with the patience level of my DH let alone any smaller children 😉 .  

Edited April 4, 2019 by Cruisegirl70

[Loritd]

We buy faster to fun. To us it is worth it. On the first day on our last cruise my husband lost his sail and sign card. The was a huge line at the passenger service desk but we didn't have to wait. They deactivated the lost card and issued him a new one immediately, no worries of someone putting charges on his card we would have to contest. We also like early access to our room to drop the carry-ons and change out of our traveling clothes.

[Shaded Lady]

One other item of note- if you have the Carnival Mastercard you get 10% off all excursions if you use that card to pay for them... and FTTF is actually considered an excursion! So we actually paid $80.95 for FTTF! Great bonus if you have or are planning on getting the card!

[missholly24]

14 hours ago, matymil said:

Now that the prices went up, I just wanted to double check on this before I made the $89.99 purchase for Faster to the Fun. We have HMC on our cruise and I wanted to see if FTTF has priority for the tenders also. I googled it and checked their site and could not find anything. We will have an infant with us and are leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale. Thanks!

Just an FYI if you can swing a cabana they are awesome. We go back and forth from that and the Villa. When our boys were babies it was priceless having some solid shade, air conditioning and dedicated chairs. You will want to spend all day there but it gets really hot. The cabana will save you from that. (And bonus you get priority on the first or second tender to the island in the am with your own meeting place for excursions). Sometimes the tender lines are awful getting off the ship at HMC. Enjoy!

[Organized Chaos]

8 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

FTTF isn't really necessary IMHO it is a waste of money.  

 

Do you want to know what really isn't necessary? Your post, but I suspect you knew that. It's kind of hard to offer a "humble" opinion when you're being condescending like that.

 

[Organized Chaos]

22 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

One other item of note- if you have the Carnival Mastercard you get 10% off all excursions if you use that card to pay for them... and FTTF is actually considered an excursion! So we actually paid $80.95 for FTTF! Great bonus if you have or are planning on getting the card!

 

Oh wow, we didn't know this. My wife has the Carnival MasterCard. We could use that in lieu of the 10% off gift cards if we don't have any at the time. If you use it to buy FTTF, or an excursion for that matter, does the discount show up immediately in checkout, or how does it work?

[Shaded Lady]

3 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Oh wow, we didn't know this. My wife has the Carnival MasterCard. We could use that in lieu of the 10% off gift cards if we don't have any at the time. If you use it to buy FTTF, or an excursion for that matter, does the discount show up immediately in checkout, or how does it work?

Carnival charges you the full amount, but on your credit card statement you will see a line that says something like 'Carnival excursion deduction' and the amount of the credit (-$9.00).

 

We had FTTF for 2 cabins so we saved even more!

[grandmarnnurse]

5 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Oh wow, we didn't know this. My wife has the Carnival MasterCard. We could use that in lieu of the 10% off gift cards if we don't have any at the time. If you use it to buy FTTF, or an excursion for that matter, does the discount show up immediately in checkout, or how does it work?

No. You will pay full price, and then the Carnival Mastercard gives you the discount on your bill. I use this card for EVERYTHING! Groceries, bills, any purchases. That way I accrue points faster. I redeemed $1200 reward points to use as a statement credit on my credit card bill after booking a cruise, with prepaid gratuities and trip insurance, and putting the entire thing on my card. That means that a 7 day cruise for two on the Breeze in an inside cabin with prepaid gratuities and trip insurance came to $1969, but after I received my statement credit of $1200, it came to $769 total. I then continued to accrue reward points and for every 5,000 points I redeemed for $50 bar credit. I went into my cruise with $300 bar credits and $50 OBC (that Carnival gave me when I booked) and left with a total bill after cruise of $43. Pretty good, huh? Making my purchases work for me to give me a cruise! Oh, and all the excursions I booked ahead of time got me that 10% discount. 

[Organized Chaos]

1 minute ago, Shaded Lady said:

Carnival charges you the full amount, but on your credit card statement you will see a line that says something like 'Carnival excursion deduction' and the amount of the credit (-$9.00).

 

We had FTTF for 2 cabins so we saved even more!

 

Sweet! We were surprised to see FTTF was already available for our March 2020 cruise. But we hesitated too long and it sold out in 2-3 weeks. So now we have to watch for more. We need it for 2 cabins, too. Don't have any gift cards right now, so if FTTF pops up, we can still get the discount. They charge an additional $20 for FTTF for an 8-day on Horizon, which is what we'll be on, so I definitely want to get the discount to help counteract that "Horizon tax." Thanks for the info! 🙂

[ABQrobin]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Do you want to know what really isn't necessary? Your post, but I suspect you knew that. It's kind of hard to offer a "humble" opinion when you're being condescending like that.

 

 

So I am not allowed to have an opinion?  Thanks.  Haven't seen your awesome posts here on CC in awhile.  

 

My opinion does matter...  and I was telling the OP that it doesn't help that much with priority tendering as most of the tenders are big enough so that people get to the island within 15-20 minutes.  No need to pay extra just to get the same place everyone else is going.  

[Organized Chaos]

7 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

 

So I am not allowed to have an opinion?  Thanks.  Haven't seen your awesome posts here on CC in awhile.  

 

My opinion does matter...  and I was telling the OP that it doesn't help that much with priority tendering as most of the tenders are big enough so that people get to the island within 15-20 minutes.  No need to pay extra just to get the same place everyone else is going.  

 

Doesn't seem like that one particular opinion was too well received in this thread. Having an opinion is one thing. Using it to be rude, especially where it has zero relevance, is totally different.

 

If you haven't seen my posts, you must not be looking too hard. I've been posting regularly for the last month or so. Prior to that, I did take a bit of a break from CC because all the rude & disrespectful posters became the loudest voices and made it a pretty toxic environment to spend time in. Before that, I was quite the regular user, but I don't recall you at all. I don't know if my posts are awesome, but I try my best. But thanks for the compliment. 😉